A Torn Family

Chapter 18

Dad pried open a window to the barn and the 4 of us climbed through and into the darkness. Dad led, and Dean took the rear, closing the window behind us so the barn was pitch black. We hopped silently down bales of hay to the ground and set off searching for the vampires.

We found them asleep in hammocks. We ducked around and underneath them, but one of us must have knocked a hammock, because a beer bottle began to rattle. We all braced ourselves, grabbing the handles of our knives, preparing to fight our first ever vampires. None of them woke up though, and the three of us continued. Dad had disappeared somewhere in the barn. I wasn't too worried about him.

"Dean, Luce." Sam whispered to us, and gestured to a girl who was splattered with blood. She appeared to be tied to a post or something.

"Sammy." I whispered, when Sam stooped next to the bleeding girl. "Sammy, don't. We'll get her later."

"Wait." Dean held up a finger, and we could hear a faint crying. "There's more of them." Sam began untying the ropes that bound the girl, and Dean grabbed a hook to break the lock on the cage the others were trapped inside.

"Do you guys ever listen?" I whisper yelled. "We'll get them later. After the leeches are dead."

"Hey." Sam whispered, and I could see the girl beginning to wake up. "Hey, it's okay. I'm here to help you. We're here to help you."

Apparently she didn't appreciate that.

The girl let out a vicious scream, and I felt myself freeze for half a second. All the vampires began to wake up, and subsequently spotted us freeing their walking blood bags.

"I told you guys to free them later." I grumbled, unsheathing my machete. "But do you listen? No. Of course not. Why would you listen to me? What do I know?"

"Not the time, Lucille." Dean snapped, wielding his knife as well.

"Run!" We heard Dad yell from somewhere in the barn, and we took off. We ran out of the barn, the vampires hot on our trail. Apparently the vampire super-speed thing was bullshit too. We sprinted out into the woods to the cars, before turning around.

"Dad?" Dean called out. "Dad!"

Dad came running up to us a few moments after, stumbling slightly. While the old man had taught us everything we knew about hunting, clearly we had him beat in the fitness category. Sure, it probably had a lot to do with age. Small victories.

Though we didn't know it at the time, the three of us would continue to become the greatest hunters known to the world. Legends. We would surpass Dad's hunting skill without losing our warmth like he had. My redheaded friend, Rowena was right about us. We were destined for great things.

"They won't follow until tonight." Dad told us. "We need to be ready for them, though. Once a vampire gets your scent, it's for life."

"Well, what the hell should we do now?" Dean asked.

"You got to find the nearest funeral home, that's what."

***

Dad had taken us back to our motel room, and sent Dean to check out the funeral home. He checked out of his room for reasons I don't know. So Sam, Dad, and I were stuck in a tiny motel room. Together.